Ideas to Celebrate While Practicing Social Distancing
As we approach Halloween it can feel like a bit of a let down, especially if you have young children. This year Halloween is not only on a Saturday night, which if you're lucky only happens once or twice in your childhood, but also a Full Moon and the day of Daylight Savings Times. All of these factors seemed to predict an amazingly epic Halloween back at the beginning of the year, but as we all know, 2020 had different plans for us. But not to fear! Just because Halloween can't be enjoyed in all the traditional ways this year does not mean that you have to cancel the whole holiday for your children. Here are some ways we are celebrating Halloween safely this year.
Make a Haunted House
Decorating the house is not canceled! Maybe this is the year to splurge on some extra Halloween decorations or add an animatronic or two. Last year, I bought a cheap projector and a couple of DVDs of spooky ghosts and scenes and the experience made the whole house super spooky. Not only was it fun decorating, but it was fun surprising family members as they returned home from work and school. Create a haunted walkway for your little ones with a candy reward at the end. If you are a large family you can even consider dressing up a few family members to jump out and scare them!
Carving Pumpkins
Though carving pumpkins is not a new thing, it can be one of those things we forget to do with Halloween. Sometimes there is so much other stuff to be done at this time of year, the more old fashioned festivities go on the wayside. Pick out pumpkins for each family member and have a contest on who does the best one. Children can paint the pumpkins if they are too small to cut them or have parental assistance after picking out the face they want. While the contest is going on you can toast the pumpkin seeds from your pumpkins and even roast an individual pumpkin for pumpkin pie. Be sure to get a small sugar pumpkin if you plan on eating it instead of the large carving pumpkins so the flavor is better.
Scavenger Hunt
Though trick or treating might feel a little iffy this year, the kids can still be sent on an adventure. Dress them up in their costumes and send them out looking for a list of things you hid in the house and yard. The whole neighborhood can get involved with this one with all the children being sent at different times or locations for the objects. Time the hunt and whoever comes back with the most items on their list wins! If you are even feeling uncomfortable with objects being collected, the scavenger hunt can be shifted to a photo scavenger hunt, where kids take photos of the objects instead of physically touching them.
Halloween Movie-a-Thon
Make everyone's favorite treats or grab a bag of Halloween candy and get the family together for a scary movie night. Other families can join via Zoom as well. If you are incorporating many of our ideas, who gets to pick the movie can be a reward for the pumpkin carving contest or scavenger hunt.
Virtual Costume Contest
Get all of your kid's friends together virtually for a costume contest, but make a show of it! With the advantage of virtual contests each contestant can use the green screen feature and change their background and/or add music, lighting even a little bit of acting or dancing. For those who really want to go all out, they can even create a video, edited to perfection to submit for the costume contest. Use the freedom that video can give you to create an amazing and show stopping entrance and display of your costume.
These are just a few ideas on how to make Halloween still be a fun experience for your kids, but by no means all you can do! There is no reason to cancel the holiday, instead use the new barriers as ways to express and expand your imagination. The same way we could use the lockdown to stimulate our creativity this is no different. Make this time a period of happy memories for your children. You can overshadow the uncertainty and create lasting and meaningful memories for them with just a little bit of planning and creativity.
How are you celebrating Halloween? We would love to hear your comments and questions at info@bullionite.com